Benefits of BCAA Supplements

If you've been hitting the gym lately, then you know how often fitness junkies discuss the supplements they take and compare notes to find out just how beneficial a particular product is. Lately, a lot of these discussions are centering on BCAA supplements. One serious weightlifter may enthusiastically praise the wonders of Blox, for example, while a runner can go into a running monologue about how Amino1 has increased his endurance and lessened his fatigue. Such talk can lead you to wonder what all the hype is all about.

What does BCAA mean?

First of all, BCAA stands for Branched Chain Amino Acids. This is a term used to refer to three amino acids that are grouped together because of their branched chain structure. These amino acids are Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine.

Leucine plays an important role in building up your muscles and preventing muscle tissue loss. On the other hand, isoleucine is a potent amino acid that increases glucose uptake into your cells. In combination, they play a crucial role in boosting your muscle cell growth. Valine is still somewhat an unknown component, however, and research is still being conducted to ascertain whether it plays an important role in muscle development or if it is just included due to its structure.

Medicinal BCAA

Doctors are now using BCAA to treat many types of serious medical conditions. These include:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease
• Various brain conditions caused by liver disease such as latent hepatic encephalopathy and chronic hepatic encephalopathy
• tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder
• McArdle's disease, a genetic disease
• Spinocerebellar degeneration
• The lack of appetite in elderly cancer patients and kidney failure patients
• The wasting of the muscle in patients who are bed-ridden

Workout Benefits from BCAA

However, several studies have indicated that BCAA supplements such as Amino1 and Blox can benefit you even if you don't have serious ailment. These supplements can help you build muscle and boost your athletic performance, and the effects are much more dramatic for beginners. Aside from muscle growth, other benefits that have been ascribed to BCAA include greater resistance to fatigue and improved weight loss.

While there has been a lot of anecdotal evidence (you can trust fitness enthusiasts to go on and on about how their supplements have helped them out), initial medical research has actually found some evidence to back these claims.

For example, one double blind study that lasted for 33 hours involved subjects performing offshore sailing while taking BCAA supplements every six hours. The test demonstrated that fatigue improvements are evident by the second day, with less memory errors (memory errors are telltale signs of fatigue) displayed in subsequent tests. Another double blind test involving cyclists revealed that the subjects experienced less physical and mental fatigue which was confirmed by subsequent tests. Just about half of them also reported an improvement in their performance.

All these reasons show why it's important to supplement your diet with BCAA. Not only do these supplements provide the "raw materials" for you to build muscle, but they also enable you to exercise for longer periods of time.

Find the very best pre workout supplement for you that has BCAA's, Creatine, Caffeine, and other essential muscle building compounds.

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